Although the fine arts have been grouped as a faculty for years at Trinity Western University, its School of Arts, Media + Culture (SAMC) formed just last spring, and kicked off with a two-week festival featuring student work from all the disciplines that fall within the school’s sphere.
From March 29 to April 11, they’ll do it all again as SAMC presents the second annual Festival of the Arts, Media + Culture.
David Squires, dean of the fledgling school, sees the annual festival as an opportunity to put students’ talent on display in a big way.
“It’s such a lively arts climate here at TWU, there’s so much creativity,” he said.
“Students prepare all semester long and (at the end) their work comes to fruition.”
The fact that the end of this semester also marks the end of the school year adds an extra element of celebration to the event, said Squires.
Projects which students have worked on for the past four months will be on display for two full weeks, with presentations in the areas of visual arts, music, theatre, film and creative writing.
Ask Squires to name a few of the highlights of the festival and he chuckles.
“Close your eyes and point (at the schedule).”
He does note, however, that this year’s big theatre production, The Bacchae, represents a collaboration among three disciplines, with a score written especially for the performance in the digital music department and sets designed by a SAMC visual arts student.
And while most of the events are taking place on campus over the two-week period, a few will be scattered throughout Langley and even cross borders into neighbouring communities, with concerts scheduled for Surrey and Abbotsford.
The senior student art show — titled A Parade Marching Backward in Time — will hang from March 31 to April 30 in the Langley Centennial Museum’s gallery space in Fort Langley.
Meanwhile, new student art will be on display in the President’s Gallery on campus throughout the two-week festival.
While Squires encourages people to come out and support the disciplines they’re familiar with — often that means music and theatre — he’d like them to branch out and explore a few other mediums, too.
Perhaps, he suggests, take in Vignettes, An Evening of New Student Literature, on April 7.
“Or, if you like movies, check out some student films,” he said. Cinergy, the student film night, takes place on campus on the final evening of the festival.
For the full schedule of TWU arts festival events, go to twu.ca/samc and click on the link under “breaking news.”
